Hearts, Then Minds

Marines' New Mission Is To Make Iraqi Friends.

May 9, 2004|By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times

SECHER, Iraq — For Marines Saturday, it was the way it was supposed to be.

Accompanied by Navy medical corpsmen and a Navy chaplain, they spent much of the day handing out toys, candy, crackers, backpacks and soccer balls to eager children in this farming village next to Fallujah.

For adults, the Americans had bags of planting seed, farm tools and sluice gates to help with irrigation.

This was to be the Marines' strategy for winning friends in the restive Sunni Triangle region. But when four American civilian contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated, the newly arrived Marines were ordered to place a cordon around Fallujah and engaged a group of heavily armed insurgents in combat for nearly a month.

Now, as a result of an agreement cobbled together with help from former Iraqi generals and Iraqi politicians, the shooting appears over, at least temporarily. For five days, not a shot has been fired at the Marines.

So Marines fanned out in the countryside Saturday, distributing goodies to kids and farming implements to the adults. They also asked what battle damage the village suffered; a Marine lawyer will follow up and decide on any compensation.

When the Marines assumed responsibility in mid-March for much of the al-Anbar province, they hoped to emphasize the first part of the 1st Marine Division's motto, "No better friend." Instead they found themselves emphasizing the second part, "No worse enemy."

Now they're attempting a new beginning.

"We're trying to do as much good as we can," said Navy corpsman Marcos Figueroa, 28, of Culver City, Calif. "The children are less hostile than the adults. They're the key to the adults. If you're good to someone's kids, it makes them feel better about you."

As the Marine convoy rolled into the village center, barefoot children came running in anticipation. "Mistah, mistah, mistah," they pleaded.

Soon adult men and young girls, often with babies in arms, also came near the Humvees. Adult women peeked out from behind curtains in their one-story cinderblock homes. Women rarely are seen in public here, and almost never heard.

At one group of homes, the Americans were offered small classes of chilled goat milk. Thin and sour tasting, the milk was seen as a peace offering, and the Americans took large gulps.

"We just want them to know we're here to be their friend," said Cpl. Reynold Rosado, 20, of Lorraine, Ohio. "It's our primary mission now. In the end, it's for their benefit."